Trey Burke thinks he can be All-Star with Utah Jazz, who have need at point guard

Jun. 29, 2013

New Jazz guard Trey Burke / Associated Press

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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

On the first day, Trey Burke wasted no time showing Utah his confidence.

Asked during the introductory news conference how good he can be, Burke answered befitting the college player of the year.

“If they asked me, I think I can be an All-Star in the league someday,” he told the Utah Jazz reporters in a video posted on utahjazz.com. “That’s just my opinion.”

It was an opinion that the eight teams who passed on him and the one who picked him No. 9 and traded him to Utah may wonder about in the future.

But Burke seemed comfortable with where he landed.

With some time to digest the Jazz’s acquisition, he flashed back to the NBA combine in Chicago in May, where he met with the Jazz officials and, though he never worked out for them, recalled the comfort level.

Burke didn’t give the Jazz much thought because they weren’t slotted in the Top 10 where he expected to be drafted, but quickly realized Thursday night the landing spot is ideal as all of their point guards from last season are free agents.

Especially considering the team that actually drafted him — Minnesota — have three established point guards.

“It was a definitely a relief,” Burke said. “At the time I got drafted last night, I really wasn’t thinking about how many point guards Minnesota had, I was just excited that I got drafted finally and the process was over with. But I was definitely relieved when I found out I was getting traded.”

That allows him the freedom to come to Utah and make a quick impact, even when the summer league begins in Orlando July 2.

“What’s going to be expected is for me to come right in, show my leadership ability, bringing a winning mentality and also making plays for the team,” Burke said. “I think that’s a natural strength of mine, a playmaker and with the guys surrounding me, I’m sure I’ll be able to make plays for them and the team.”

He admitted his challenges, especially on defense and learning the Utah offense, a point coach Tyrone Corbin stressed was the critical piece for any point guard. But Burke was glad to embrace that.

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Already Corbin was playing the fatherly role, trying to diminish the soaring pressure on Burke, who arrives in an organization noted for its point guard play.

“One of the things we all have to be careful of, is there is going to be a high amount of pressure on young guys to come in and develop (and) you can’t speed that process up anymore than the process speeds itself up,” said Corbin, who added Utah will run more pick and roll to play off Burke’s strength. “We have to give him time to get comfortable, we have to see how he picks things up. We expect him to pick them up fast after watching his career up to this point. We think he’s a quick learner. But the competition is different. All of these guys are going to have a lot of things thrown at them and (the media) are going to put more pressure on to speed the process up why he’s not playing, why he’s not starting whatever that thing is. That kid has to continue to work. As excited as we are to have him we know what it’s going to take to get him up to where we want him to be and that’s a process.”